North Korea on Saturday launched more than 10 ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea’s military said, as the US and South Korean forces conducted military drills and US President Donald Trump renewed overtures towards Pyongyang for dialogue.
The Japan Coast Guard announced that at 1:30 pm JST (10 am IST), Saturday, what appeared to be a ballistic missile was launched from North Korea, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported.
It appeared to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, NHK quoted defence ministry sources as saying.
Meanwhile, Japan’s PM has issued an “Emergency alert” on social media platform X and said , “North Korea has launched a suspected ballistic missile. More updates to follow.”
The Japanese government has convened an emergency response team consisting of officials from relevant ministries and agencies at the crisis management center in the prime minister’s office. The team is collecting information and confirming if there is any damage.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it believed the North fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles, launching them from near Sunan, close to the capital Pyongyang, toward the Sea of Japan.
The South Korean military said that it is closely sharing information with Japan and the US, while stepping up monitoring and vigilance and maintaining full readiness.
The latest launch of ballistic missiles came as South Korea and the United States kicked off their annual Freedom Shield exercise Monday for an 11-day run while US and Israel are already engaged in an escalating campaign in the Middle East.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that approximately 18,000 Korean troops are participating in the exercise, named Freedom Shield, which runs through March 19. U.S. Forces Korea has not confirmed the number of American troops involved.
The joint exercise comes amid speculation in South Korean media that the United States may be relocating some assets from the peninsula to support operations against Iran.
As a result, Pyongyang has been under multiple UN Security Council sanctions since 2006, but it remains defiant, despite the severe obstacles the sanctions created to its trade, economy and defence.
North Korea termed such exercises as “dress rehearsals” for armed aggression against it by the allies.
